Professor OH Yeon-Cheon of the Graduate School of Public Administration (GSPA) has taken office as Seoul National University's 25th President and started his 4 years of presidency from July 20.

President Oh has served as professor of public administration in SNU for nearly 30 years. He graduated SNU Department of Political Science in 1974 and passed the High Grade Test of Public Administration next year. Oh went to New York University as a Korean Government Scholarship recipient and earned master's degree of public administration. Upon deciding to take the academic path, Oh self-financed his own doctoral studies and received Ph.D. of public administration from NYU in 1982. He became SNU professor of public administration next year at his age of 33. He served as the Dean of Graduate School of Public Administration from 2000 to 2004.

President Oh said that SNU has led the development of Korea for more than 60 years, but now is confronting a new challenge to position itself as a global academic leader. He emphasized SNU scholars would be able to make greater contributions to the nation by conducting innovative cutting-edge research. He stressed the need to balance the research and education, saying that the research must be translated into education. 

President Oh declared to launch the"S.T.A.R.(Superior Teaching, Advanced Research) Project 10" which are designed to further cultivate creative scholars. Within this Project, Oh will implement 'SNU Young Star' program which will give full support to SNU Ph.D. students.

President Oh received the most votes in the presidential election on May 5 and awarded the Certificate of Appointment from the President of Korea. The inaugural ceremony will be held at the University Cultural Center on August 2.

Professor PARK Myung-Jin (Department of Communication) and Professor LEE Seung- Jong (Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering) will be appointed the 22nd vice-president on July 23 and special vice-president on August 1 respectively.

2010. 7. 21
SNU PR Office